Chapter 23: Chapter 23

“Why can't I fight by myself?”

“You won't win. But if you have the zeal to protect the one you love, you will fight him”.

Dakar sighed and got on his feet. He walked to his mother's window and flung it open. He looked down at the stone pathway that was empty. The news he just received was too much for him to handle. So, he was a cursed one. He couldn't believe it.

“How is everything going to unfold, mother?” he asked and turned to face her. She got on her feet and walked to him.

“You have to find the remaining fragments of the ball. We'll put them together and destroy them. It'll be very hard, Dakar, very hard. But you can do it. Or else, you're going to be something else. And you will destroy everything, including me”. He looked at his mother and hugged her. She was the most important thing to him and didn't want to hurt her in anyway.

“I will try my best”, he mumbled.

“There is someone you will have to visit. She gave the prophecy and is capable of helping you. But I do not trust this witch. She is very cunning and full of dark magic,” his mother stated and pulled away from him.

“Who is she?” he asked and she sighed and said,

“The Eternal Witch Of The North. She lives at the coldest part of the earth. And,Dakar, she is Ñiraka's mother”.

His eyes widened with surprise.

“Ñiraka's mother? How? I thought Ñiraka grew up here?”, he asked, shock still written all over his face.

“Her father met the witch on one of his journeys as a young man. He got bitten by an adder and was about to die. She came to him and told him she could save him, only if he stayed with her for a year. Of course, heagreed. She saved him and took him to a place where she lived with him as his wife. Ñiraka was the product of that short affair. He returned home with Ñiraka and claimed he got married on the way, but lost his wife.”

“Wait, mother. How do you even know all these stories? How do you find out? Because it seems you're the only one who knows them”, Dakar asked with agitation in his voice.

The Queen sighed and sat down on her bed again. She thought for awhile then exhaled through her mouth.

“I know all these, because Ñiraka's mother and I... Are sisters. Yes, Ñiraka is your cousin”, she revealed and Dakar's legs couldn't hold his body anymore. He fell to the ground and grabbed his hair in his hands. He was beyond shocked.

Chapter 29

“Why? Why did you keep this away from me?”, Dakar questioned.

“Because it is a secret. Only I and Anthena know”, his mother answered.

“That's why you never approved of her being my bethrothed”.

“Yes. That is one of the reasons”.

“So, there are other reasons?”

“I will tell you everything as they unfold. Right now, we have to get you to Anthena”

He nodded and got on his feet.

“Today already started on a bad note. I am off to my Chambers for the day”, he said and turned to the door.

“Dakar, please forgive me for hiding all these. I was trying to protect you. To give you a normal life first”, Luna pleaded.

“It's okay, mother. I don't hold anything against you”, he replied and left the room. On his way out of the building, he didn't meet anyone and the whole of his mother's Chambers was awkwardly quiet. It was because the servants had all left the premises, so they wouldn't use wolf senses to listen to their conversation.

Dakar returned to his house and met with a terrible smell of burnt food. He also head little murmurs and groans of frustration.

“No, Dakar should not meet me like this. How did I manage to burn it? Ugh! Smells terrible”, Camper murmered in very low whispers. Dakar stood still with his hands on his waist. He was already in a bad mood and could snap any second. There were three things he hated other people mess with; his weapons, his women and his cooking or food ingredients. Camper messes with all of them.

He decided not to go inside so he turned to return back, through the door. But that very instant, Camper came out with a pan of burnt brownies, a bowl filled with terrible looking steak and a cup of milk that a raw egg had broken inside. Only Camper knew how to make weird combinations of food. As he walked, he didn't even notice Dakar standing in front or scent him.

“I have to throw these far away so Dakar won't know I ruined his food”, he whispered to himself.

“Too late”, his voice rang and Camper halted immediately. He gasped and stood like a statue

“You are going to throw my food away?” Dakar asked.

“What? Throw away? Of course not. Don't you know that while we dine and dance, there are some people even in this kingdom that have nothing to eat. I am going to give this to some of them. It could go a long way, you know”, Camper said with all sincerity, that Dakar almost laughed.

“Three...questions”, he drawled.

“Ask away, Prince”, he smiled and even moved closer.

“Why are you giving such small food to the poor? Why did you burn what you want to give? Why does it have to be from my personal kitchen when you know I don't joke with whatever is found there?”

Camper stopped smiling and started thinking of a suitable excuse.

“I... You know—” he stuttered and looked at his friend. He broke into crocodile tears and knelt down.

“Mercy, your highness. Mercy!” he cried and began to bow, touching his head to the floor and raising it up again.

“Why didn't you eat in your own house?” Dakar asked, totally ignoring his friend's act of surrender.

“Oh, didn't you hear? My mother somehow disowned me. And my father has forgotten I exist. He doesn't even recognize my scent of all things”.

Dakar finally laughed. Camper's father was almost a thousand year old. He was one of the oldest. To have a child as youngas Camper, you should realize he was like Camper. He only stopped having his women after he got struck by a silver sword in his leg. He would have died immediately if it was his heart or any delicate part of his body, but since it was his leg, it affected him slowly. Werewolves couldonly be killed with silver and wolfsbane, a plant that is poisonous to them.

“Return everything to the kitchen”, Dakar ordered.

“I know you're a foodaholic, but what are you going to do with these?”

“I can use all but the brownies. Those are burnt beyond use.”

“How?” Camper inquired and got on his feet. He left the things on the floor where he laid them while bowing.

“I can make beef rolls. I'll cook and mash up the steak. Then add sauce and stuff it into dough beforebaking. The milk and stew can be used for the dough”, Dakar replied calmly. He figured out he needed company so he wouldn't ponder on all he just found out.

“Great! Let's go!”, Camper yelled and went back to the kitchen, leaving the things on the floor for Dakar to pick. Dakar knew that act was intentional. He however picked the things, smiled and went to the kitchen. It was cooking time.

END OF FLASHBACK

“So you enjoyed cooking then as much as you do now. Wow, I'm proud of you”, Avril hailed and Dakar laughed.

“Fifty four years later and I still find cooking relieving. Especially if the food turns out great”, he stated.

“How old were you then?”

“Just fifty. I was quit young, wasn't I?”

“Young? You were old enough to be a grandpa!”

“Haha, I wish that was how it worked. But in our world, we live way longer and don't age much. Camper's father got his first grey hair at seven hundred”.

“Wow. So I'm speaking with a hundred and four year old? Man, you're old!”

Dakar laughed.

“Lycans live longer than that”, he whispered and got on his feet.

“What are lycans?” Avril asked and looked up at him as he began to walk around her room.

“We are in the same family, but different species. Just like gorrilas and humans. Both primates, right?”

“Yeah”

“Lycans are greater than we are. Faster, stronger, deadlier. In fact, I don't want to ever meet one in my life. They are also very ugly in animal form. But handsome in human form”

“And they live longer?”

“Yeah. Ayoung lycan should be about five hundred years. We do have one thing in common though”.

“What is it?”

“Vampires are our eternal enemies”.

“But I love vampires. They're hot, man!” Avril exclaimed and Dakar frowned.

“Sorry. Just joking”, she quickly added.

“I'm going down. I'll be back later” he said

“Wait, you didn't tell me if you succeeded or not”

He laughed then said, “I succeeded and I'm here? I did a mistake and doomed myself. I got the crystal ball complete, but I was supposed to destroy it immediately with my sword. But I wanted to see what it would do if I got close to it when it was completed”

“What did it do?” Avril asked and listened attentively to what he was going to say.

“Sucked in my wolf but made me take his form. Then possessed me and began speaking in my head, exactly as my wolf does.” he paused and tightened his fist. Avril guessed whatever was in his mind was pissing him off.

“Made me kill mymother”, he stated and his eyes turned teary. He turned back to face her.

“Avril, I dug my claws into her chest and ripped her heart out. I killed my mother”, he sobbed and Avril ran to hug him.

Chapter 30

Dakar was a strong man and knew how to put his emotions in check, if Dojo did not take over. And to break down in front of a young girl, and cry like a vulnerable child, then the pain was indescribable. He struggled for years to remember his parents faces, or even their names. But he couldn't. When he finally remembered, he knew how much his mother sacrificed for him and he couldn't wait to go back home to her. After Avril asked him if he succeeded, that ugly memory flooded him. How she was holding the bowl with the complete crystal ball, and his father standing beside him. His mother dropped the bowl and ordered him to strike immediately. But he hesitated and showed stupidity. Dojo possessed him and he fell with a scream, his insides burned and he got a rage that wasn't his. And with one ugly glance at a shocked woman, he pulled out his claws and stabbed her in the chest. The look she gave him was still in his mind. She looked terribly hurt.

“This is not you, Dakar. Fight this”, she whispered and he ripped her heart out. His father pulled out his sword immediately. Dakar fell to the floor and screamed again. He felt his bones snapping and getting bigger. That was the biggest form he had ever possessed. Everything seemed smaller, including his father.

“No, no, no. I can't stay here”, he muttered and grabbed his bag that he had returned with from his journey. He broke out of the house and ran off despite the calls of his father. He however did not make it outside his mother's Chambers, because he found himself on the island. His father saw him disappear into thin air.

Sitting on the cold marble floor of Avril's room, with her hugging his bare skin and muttering soothing words, he realized that he would have killed her a lot of times. But he didn't even when Dojo had the chance. He controlled himself the way he couldn't with his mother.

“It's all right. I'm here for you, Dakar. You won't feel all that pain anymore. I won't let you go through it alone”, she said, soothingly.

He looked at her eyes and pulled her away from him. He looked her over and over again.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Avril, I didn't hurt you”, he said.

“I know. It wasn't you, it was that demon. That Dojo”, she rasped and tried to hug him again but he shifted back.

“No, don't come close. He hates you. Loathes you. He wants you dead like he did my mother”.

“Then why hasn't he done that? I've been here for how long?”

“Because... Because I'm strong enough to stop him from getting any further”, he said, but those words were more to himself than to her. His mother had said similar words to him.

“And do you think you're going to lose any of that strength? Dakar, you're stronger than this thing. You can fight it. You can resist it. I'm here to help you do that”, she stated with so much determination, that Dakar truly got strengthened. He smiled at her and pulled her closer. He held her face and found out she also cried. He wiped the small tears with his thumbs and hugged her to himself. He finally understood what his mother had said to him.